I'm melting on Christmas

Unfortunately I haven't received my Christmas package yet (thanks AU post :( ) Hopefully all the packages and things hopefully came today, the post was closed yesterday. 

This week has been fairly relaxed with Christmas approaching. Friday was a scorching 46*c or 115*f!!!! Fortunately the mission has a rule that we are not allowed to door knock or  street contact over 40*c or 104*f. Even when it is in the 90s we try to always be wise in what we are doing. 

The cool thing is that that day we were still able to finally meet with a man named Roy who we ran into at the beginning of last transfer and have been trying to contact him for a long time. He had been taught before and loved the missionaries but had just been too busy with work to make time. We were able to meet with him a few times and do some service for him. He is moving to Sydney which  is sad but he wants to still meet with the missionaries there so we will pass his information to the Sydney Elders.

We also found another man who is an Aboriginal. Something not very common in this part of Australia. They as a people are very spiritual so it will be interesting to see how teaching him goes. 

Mostly just enjoying Chrismas this week. Christmas is very special as a missionary, people's hearts are softened and it is amazing how when you  look for the little things in life, all the little miracles, then your day will become much brighter.

Love you all,

Elder Jenkins 

Taylor says he "channeled my inner Aunt Laurie" and made a birthday cake for one of the Sister Missionaries.

 This is the famous Blue Lake in Mt Gambier. It turns bright cobalt blue from Dec-March. It is an extinct volcanic crater and is the source of the town's drinking water.

 Some more beautiful Australian countryside.

While in Adelaide a few weeks ago for training, Taylor went on a hike with some other missionaries to some waterfalls but there wasn't much water.

Summer Soup

Prayer has been a incredibly important part of the work here, we pray probably 20 times a day. Before lessons before finding... ect.

I have really learned how prayer and revelation work, as me and Elder Matson have learned to work together and gotten to work, it has been awesome. I was looking back kind of prideful and felt we needed to door knock exclusively with some member work but I needed to relax and try Elder Matson's way and do more member work and follow up with people there were taught prior or found but never taught.

My testimony of the power of the Atonement and how repentance is changing to come closer to God has been strengthened incredibly here on the mission.  

Thursday was good visiting Dez. We were able to offer a prayer after being prompted and he really liked it. For some reason we hadn't thought of it till then. 

We also went to a members home we go to for a meal once a week. He loves the missionaries and is very missionary focused but unfortunately he does not have any tastebuds, LITERALLY! Normally the food is alright but we had his "legendary" summer soup, made with all kinds of citrus and rice blended up and the egg whites and tomatoes all blended up but still chunky. If you haven't thrown up yet you got farther than some other missionaries. I managed to finish the giant bowl he gave me but my companion could only finish about half before he almost threw up. Definitely the weird/worst food item of the mission. (Taylor has told us about eating this several times on his mission already.)

Friday we were able to find our first new friend of the transfer named Mark, he was a referral from the sisters and it turns out he was taught previously by the other missionaries and we had his records! Funny things like that happen all the time.

Saturday was a lot of biking trying to follow up with people. We had stopped at the chapel to get some water and use the toilet  (they don't say restroom here, just toilet) when we got a call from the Elders Quorum President asking if we could come help put a window in his house because it was too big for one person to lift. When we walked up we figured it would just be quick but he was still re-building part of the wall, he had hit a water pipe and had to repair it but wanted the window in before dark, hence us being there. The construction of homes here is mostly large limestone bricks with mortar, it was cool to see the wall get built up and also talk about some new areas we can go visit members. When it came to the window was when it got crazy. This window was probably 12 feet long by 4.5 ft. So man handling it into the hole with just 3 people was pretty tough. They gave us pizza which was awsome because I learned I actually don't mind supreme pizza. I am definitely an adult now. It even had shrimp or prawns as they call them here which was different, but good.

Sunday through Monday was a trade off with the Portland Elders so i got to go down to Portland which was super  awesome. Almost everyone there is so nice and we met tons of people who had never even seen the missionaries before, something that never happens in Mt Gambier. 

Tuesday was awesome because I got do some service for one of the sisters' friends who was found by us last transfer. Her and her daughter are progressing really quickly and it was awesome to hear that from the other missionaries. 

The gospel is true, there will always be rough times but there is a better patch always.

Sincerely,  Elder Jenkins 

This week was really fun. My training #2 at the Mission Office was mostly on getting us excited for the work again and some new ways to find and teach. Because  of all the meetings my companion had for ending his mission and what not, I got to spend a few days with the Zone Leaders, either in a trio or on splits. The Zone Leaders are in the Mt. Barker area. It is an area that I really want to serve in. The members are amazing and the people seemed cool as well. My Zone Leaders, Elder Norman and Elder Sawada(who was unfortunately transferred to Darwin) are awsome. I got to spend a lot of time specifically with Elder Sawada.  He is from Japan and a very hard working missionary. 

The best part was having Thanksgiving with some members and then having another feed a few days later. But the most interesting meal appointment  we had was with some members that had a Japanese exchange student. Elder Sawada was able to teach her a bit and we had a Japanese feast. Miso soup and rice that is famous in japan and a few other things. Im sure Grandpa Ridge will love to hear about it. 

Transfers happened and my new companion is Elder Matson, from Idaho. He is excited about the work which is awesome.   He likes to talk a lot which is good some times but other times it can be tough to get quiet. But it is alright to have differences. (Glad he's learning this early on!)

Portland also got a new elder who is from NZ and is Tongan who has some cool stories.(The missionaries in Portland often come to Mt Gambier for P-day and stay overnight with Taylor and his companion for church. That's why he talks about the Portland Elders so much). 

This week has actually been really long and I am glad. But it's time to get back to work. The gospel is true and I feel your prayers every day because  sometimes they are the only thing that keep me going when it is tough.  

Staying in Mt Barker during transfer week with the Zone leaders Elder Sawada and Elder Norman. Taylor's trainer, Elder Hymas is in the red hoodie. 

The Australian countryside.

  

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